Think Pink: Rose Wines

There is nothing better than having a glass of chilled bottle of white and rose wine at the end of the day. Generally speaking, rose wines are usually preferred during summer because are lighter than whites, especially reds. For those who don't know, rose is not a grape variety, but it is a processed red grape variety or sometimes a mixture of red and white wine. Rose wines are nice and soft to the moth with flavours of strawberry, cerise, magenta, cranberry, fairy floss, tangerine, etc., and are the ideal drink for hot summer days and warm spring nights.

Little Introduction

Even though France is known as the leading in the category of best roses, whites and reds, Spain, Italy and Australia are just behind it.

The Colour

Just like red wines, rosé wines take their color from the skins of red grapes. The intensity of the colour will vary and depend on the used grape varieties, as well as of the time the grape skins stay together with the juice. This process can last from less than an hour to several days or more. The more the skin stays in contact with the juice, the more deeper the colour it will be. Consequently, if the maceration process last short, the colour of the wine will be pale pink.

However, there are rosé wines made simply by blending white and red wine, but a lot of the best rosés are produced by saignée (pronounced “sen-yay”) method (which is a French word that means “to bleed”). This means that after a short time, the juice (which already has a pink colour) is “bled” out of the fermentation tank and separated from the grape skins.

The Wine Making Process

To begin the wine making process, red grapes are harvested and brought to the winery in order to be destemmed and crushed. Once done, the grapes together with skins are put into a tank (by know, the wine making process for both rose and red wines is identical).

Within a few hours, the grape skins start to separate from the yield and rise to the top of the tank. So, once the winemaker decides, the grape skins will be separated from the juice.

Whether fermented in tanks or barrels, the wine is allowed to “go dry,” so all natural grape sugars will be consumed by fermenting yeasts.

Rose wines vary in colour, and precisely this is the main indicator of how full-bodied the wine is going to be. To make it simple, the darker the colour, the more full-bodied the wine is.

When looking for best roses, keep in mind that rose wines are never older than 2-3 years. Rose wines are light wines and ideal for matching with any desert and food.